Story on Kelly not worth the cost of ink
While, the issue of whether an individual pays their taxes is public knowledge, and in Mr. Kelly’s case, may be considered newsworthy; I strongly believe the Daily Herald failed to adhere to its duty of objectively reporting the news to its subscribers.
The articles in the front page of the Daily Herald (Monday Nov. 14th and Thursday Nov. 17th) concerning Bartlett’s recently resigned Village President Mike Kelly seem to be motivated more by sensationalist journalism than the desire to present significant newsworthy information to the general public.
Sensationalist journalism is a type of bias in the mass media in which events and topics are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers and generally concern insignificant or trivial matters and events that don’t influence overall society.
I merely ask the Daily Herald to do more than have a desire to sell newspapers and focus on presenting truly significant issues on its front page. Regardless of how the reporter received the information, not one of the articles in the Daily Herald state that Mr. Kelly basically volunteers for the position of Village President.
Mr. Kelly is not paid a salary, merely a small stipend to cover travel and other necessary expenses, and often must sacrifice personal, family and professional time in order to fulfill his obligations to the Village of Bartlett.
None of your articles explain how Mr. Kelly’s personal, and not illegal, issues affected his ability to meet his obligations to the Village of Bartlett or his constituents in any way.
Instead of presenting insignificant and moot issues (Mr. Kelly paid the taxes and late penalty) on its front page, the Daily Herald should investigate the problems of Illinois’ pension system or the potential loss of public sector union bargaining rights, issues which truly affect the people that subscribe to your newspaper.
Mr. Kelly was a fine village president and continues to be a model citizen; which is far more newsworthy than a delinquency in some tax payments.
Dan E. Johnson
Bartlett